It was a rainy Friday afternoon and Richard Castle was at a bookstore with his 4-year-old daughter Alexis Castle.
"Daddy?" Alexis called.
"Yes, pumpkin?" He said, ruffling her hair.
"Stop that!" Alexis said, giggling. "But can I have this book, pleeeease?" She asked holding it up to her dad.
"Of course, pumpkin, I'll just go over to the desk to pay. Do you want to wait over by the café?" He said taking the book from her.
"Okay. Can we get Ice-cream too?" Alexis asked with big puppy-dog eyes "And sprinkles?"
"All the rainbow sprinkles in the world!" He said, laughing.
Happily, Alexis ran off to the small cafe in the corner of the store.
Suddenly Alexis ran into a pair of legs, knocking both her and the woman to the ground.
"Wow, slow down there kiddo!" The woman said, smiling at Alexis and helping her up.
"I'm sorry." Alexis said still a bit dazed.
"That's okay." The woman held out her hand. "I'm Kate, what's your name?"
Alexis giggled as she shook Kate's hand. She had always called handshaking 'The grownup thing' "I'm Alexis" She said, not looking at Kate.
Her eyes were glued to Kate's 6-inch heels. "How do you even walk in those?" She asked confused, with a frown.
Kate just laughed. "Maybe when you're older, you'll want to have shoes like these too."
Alexis just shook her head in disbelief.
"So anyway, where are you heading in such a hurry?" Kate asked kindly, still laughing a bit.
Alexis smiled up at Kate "Daddy said he would buy all the rainbow sprinkles in the world for me!" She said excitedly, one hand pointing to the café and the other pointing opposite direction. "He's just buying a book."
"How about I accompany you to the café? I'd like to have a coffee myself. Then we can wait for your dad together." Kate asked, not wanting to leave Alexis all on her own.
"Okay." Alexis agreed taking Kate's hand and walking toward the café.
Just as they were about to sit down a ruggedly handsome man came up to them, "Hey pumpkin!" He said hugging Alexis, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Ew, daddy stop!" She said scrunching her face up, struggling to get free of his hold.
He just smiled, let her go, sat down and noticed Kate for the first time. But before he could get a word out, Alexis was already introducing them.
"Daddy, this is Kate, I just met her and she is super nice, but she also has extremely high shoes." Alexis paused, spreading her arms wide, staring at her dad. "I didn't even know shoes could be that high!" Alexis was still amazed. "Anyway, Kate, this is my daddy, He's super cool, but he can also be a bit weird sometimes."
"Hey! Wait, no, you're right Alexis, as always!" He said smiling.
Kate was grinning to. She held her hand out "Kate Beckett." "Richard Castle" He said shaking her hand.
-Castle's POV-
WOW, she is absolutely stunning. Her hair is a little longer than her shoulders, a kind of hazel colour, and perfectly curled. Her eyes are piercing green with a touch of brown. She's wearing a white blouse under a blue coat with black leather sleeves, black jeans, and -as Alexis had said- very high stilettos. Wow. She is seriously Gorgeous.
-Beckett's POV-
Wait, what? Did I hear that correctly? Kate thought. THE Richard castle? OMG! Okay think! Just TRY to ignore the fact that you just bought his latest book, and it's in the bag next to you. And that he is rather handsome. And that you stood in line for 3 hours once to get a book signed. Just breathe. You're a detective, remember? Just stay cool.
"So Castle, come here to check how well your book is selling? Kate asked casually.
"Castle?" He said a bit amused. "And no, Alexis here just wanted a new book, Beckett." He said wiggling his eyebrows, causing her to blush.
"I should really be getting back to work." Beckett said, just as her coffee to go arrived.
"Oh, and what is it you do?" Castle asked, interested.
"I'm a homicide detective." She replied smiling, happy to see by the look on his face that he was not just surprised, but also impressed.
"You catch bad guys?" Alexis asked with a similar expression.
Kate laughed. "Yeah, I catch the bad guys."
What a beautiful laugh!, Castle thought "So, Beckett, see you around?"
"Sure." She picked up her bag. "See you guys around" She said waving to Alexis and Castle.
Castle didn't fail to notice that the cover of his latest Derrick Storm book was shining through the plastic bag.
